People's impression of the ancient officialdom is basically impossible to avoid kneeling, in modern film and television dramas, no matter which dynasty, as long as the courtiers see the emperor, most of them have to perform the ritual of kneeling, kneeling and prostrating their heads seems to have existed since ancient times, but this is not the case. In the Spring and Autumn Warring States period, Fan Ju, who came from afar from the State of Wei, did not kneel to Him when he first met King Qin Zhaoxiang, but instead king Qin Zhaoxiang knelt down to him and asked, Sir, how can he teach me? The history books have killed all the chickens, and the king of Qin Zhaoxiang is kneeling and asking for an appointment, in modern terms, it means to kneel and ask, and a generation of monarchs can do this, which really makes the world moved. From here, it can also reflect a problem, King Zhaoxiang of Qin is a king, in the Qin state is an emperor who says one thing and the same, and Fan Ju is just a courtier, strictly speaking, at this time, Fan Ju is not a courtier, at most a scholar.
King Qin Zhaoxiang was able to kneel down to him and ask for advice from the other party, so the courtesy corporal, it can be said that it has reached the point of disregarding face, since ancient times, Chinese good face, the superior has its own majesty, in order to maintain their own prestige, many rulers are very concerned about face, but King Qin Zhaoxiang has done it, regardless of personal face for the country. If ordinary people are bowed by the monarch, most of them are panicked in their hearts, the ancients believed that the Son of Heaven is the embodiment of heaven in the mortal world, so they are in awe of the royal family, but Fan Ju does not care about such a great gift to the king of the Qin kingdom, and avoids answering, until the King of Qin repeatedly kneels down to ask, Fan Ju began to point out. During this period, there was no such thing as kneeling, and when a scholar met the ruler, he could not bow down to him, and as long as you were talented, the king would kneel down to you and ask for advice. Of course, the ancients talked at this time, nor did they stand and talk, or lie on the bed, and the role of the stool was played to the fullest.
Before entering the twenty-first century, the height of the Chinese has not been ideal, shorter than many Europeans and Americans, in the Spring and Autumn Warring States, the height of the ancients was even shorter, the history books recorded that the Qin State had a regulation, people over six feet can be counted as adults, and later the Western Han Dynasty was established, following the provisions of the previous dynasty, the standard of ancient adults was about six feet, so what is the concept of six feet? To calculate with modern measurement methods, thirty centimeters a foot, six feet is almost a meter eight, if you look at it this way, the height of the ancients is more than modern times, but the scale of the Qin Kingdom is very different from the modern era, at that time a foot is only twenty-three centimeters, six feet is only about one meter four, one meter four can be counted as adulthood, and it is needless to say how short the height of the ancients is. Because the people are generally not tall, stools or whatever, no one has thought about it and invented it, in fact, the stool did not appear until the Northern Song Dynasty, which evolved from the Hu bed, and the Hu bed was introduced to the Central Plains in the Jin Dynasty, before that, people usually sat on the bed when they were feasting and chatting. In ancient times, when guests came, they directly put on the slippers, but when officials discussed political affairs with the monarch, this was naturally not the case.
Generally speaking, when officials discuss state affairs in front of the monarch, they kneel on the bed, and the specific posture is that they kneel on the ground on both knees and sit on the back of their heels, which is also known as squatting, and it is easier to sit than to kneel straight. Perhaps many people will think that there is not much difference between sitting and kneeling, the form is similar, but in fact, the meaning of the two is different, kneeling not only to straighten the waist, the hips must also leave the heel, from the physical point of view, it is naturally difficult to kneel, and the leg numbness of the sitting can also be adjusted in a small range. During the Warring States period, sitting was popular in the countries, if the two sides talked more speculatively, they would also bow to each other and form a common worship, but the worship here was only to show their respect for the other party, and there was no respect and inferiority given later, so as mentioned above, the King of Qin knelt down to Ask Fan Ju for advice, just because Fan Ju had talent and could help him govern the country. After the two talked, Fan Ju returned to the King of Qin, which was also a kind of reciprocal salute. In the history books, there are many examples of kneeling between kings and courtiers, which was an ordinary ritual at that time and did not have much meaning.
Whether it is the monarch or the minister, all sit on the floor, just spread a blanket on the ground, at this time it is normal for the monarch's house to fight with each other, from the point of view of etiquette, this is also mutual respect, very harmonious with each other. After entering the two Han Dynasties, the Zhou rituals that people once followed have long been lost in the war, Liu Bang is not born into the nobility, there is not so much attention to etiquette, according to the records of Liu Bang's first ascension to the dynasty, the ministers are varied, some sit on the floor, some stand, and even drunk and crazy, in general, a pot of porridge. The court naturally had no majesty in the people, so Liu Bang invited The Great Confucian to formulate the etiquette standards of the upper dynasty. In the original Qin Dynasty, some ancient rituals were selected, coupled with the concept of the Son of Heaven as respect, and after the ceremony was formulated, the ministers finally had a look, so some people may ask, is the ceremony of kneeling and worshipping the Son of Heaven begin at this time?
In fact, it is not, the time is still very long, since ancient times there is a saying that boys have gold under their knees, kneeling on the knees of their parents, for the ancients, kneeling in addition to the elderly heaven and earth, the rest gives self-esteem meaning, although the Han Dynasty follows the Qin rules, but strictly speaking, there has not been much change, but it is corrected on the basis of the original. Although the princes and officials of the Han Dynasty were still sitting on their knees in the court, they could not straighten their waists at this time, they needed to bow their bodies, lower their heads and eyes not to look directly at the Heavenly Son, and when they played, they also had to follow the order of honor and inferiority, and later this provision was criticized by Sima Guang and others as a scum, believing that the person who formulated this provision was following the Heavenly Son, rather than following the ancient rites. After entering the Wei and Jin dynasties, thanks to the centralized system, the emperor's power became more and more powerful, and the etiquette also underwent small changes, and the ministers should use the fork hand salute to show their respect, the fork hand ceremony is not like sitting, there is already a difference between respect and inferiority, not only the court officials learn, even children who are not more important, but also from primary school. Although there has been respect and inferiority between kings and subjects, but the kneeling worship has not yet been formed, until the Song Dynasty, there were stools, the ancients finally stood up, the Song Dynasty is a literati country, the elderly officials, when they go to the dynasty, they can sit for a while, then give others a salute, they have to stand up from the stool. The Northern Song Dynasty had a rule that privately performing rituals in the courtroom, or directly bowing down, was a sign of dishonor.
At this time, the Shang Dynasty was only allowed to stand and salute, if anyone directly fell to the ground, he would also be punished by the Son of Heaven, and later in the surrounding Liao, Jin and other countries, a new etiquette appeared, and the people of these countries, when receiving guests, were kneeling or belittling, and were not ashamed by the Song Dynasty scholars, thinking that this was the etiquette of the Hu people. After the fall of the Southern Song Dynasty, entering the Yuan Dynasty of the Mongols, there was a kneeling salute, and when the ministers played to the Son of Heaven, they all had to kneel to play. Probably the beginning of the Yuan Dynasty, after Zhu Yuanzhang established Daming, he also formulated rules, but all officials who want to play must kneel down to play, and it is recorded in the "Daming Huidian" that all hundred officials kneel, and the Son of Heaven can get up when ordered. This is when the courtier sees the emperor, he must kneel, otherwise it will be regarded as disrespectful. The Ming Dynasty's kneeling ceremony was further upgraded, not only seeing the Son of Heaven kneeling, seeing his superiors, but also needing to kneel down to perform the ceremony, so this trend spread to the people, and the people followed suit.
In general, before the Yuan Dynasty, the courtiers did not need to kneel to the Heavenly Son, and when they met the Heavenly Son, they only needed to bow down, and the Yuan Dynasty began to kneel, and after the Ming Dynasty, they not only had to kneel for the emperor, but also to kneel for the last time, the Qing Dynasty needless to say, there were too many occasions for kneeling, and the upper performance had to kneel, and the holy will was also to kneel, because there were too many kneels, the knees were easy to ache, and the ancients also invented the knee pads. From the perspective of modern people, the more kneeling and praying, it seems that the emperor's family is dominant, and the ministers want to be slaves. It was not until the introduction of modern Western ideas to China and the awakening of the Chinese that the kneeling prayer completely disappeared.
Resources
Warring States Policy
Sima Qian, Chronicle of History